Stoldavic crop rotation
From GothaWiki
Stoldavic crop rotation is an agricultural system that made it possible to grow agricultural crops as far north as Stoldavia. Even though the rotation system has changed and elaborated over the centuries, the main idea behind the crop rotation is still in use in many parts of Stoldavia, for example in Vittmark and parts of Helreich.
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Concept
The switch to an agricultural society has been a long and difficult process in Stoldavia. Especially during the cold phase of the Tirean Oscillation the growing season for many crops simply is too short. Saving fertile seeds over the cold phase was a challenge as well. Crop rotation solved that problem.
The concept is build around rotating crops or crop groups on agricultural land, usually in a 4 season cycle. Nowadays, the four groups are:
- Potatoes
- Oats (also corn and grasses)
- Root crops and cucurbitaceae
- Beans
Even today in most areas the land is left bare during most of the cold phase, usually 4-5 years, when it is in use as pasture land. Berries and orchard trees are not a part of the shifting cultivation.
History
Hunter-gatherer tribes on Stoldavia started applying slash-and-burn techniques, cutting down coniferous trees just before the Tirean Maximum. But the forest soil was hardly ever fertile and quickly exhausted, and after 4-5 growing seasons the ground was left to grow into a forest again.
Some tribes experimented with 3 or 4 different crops, usually a root vegetable (turnip, carrot), oats and a fruit (predecessors of pumpkin, cucumber, etc). It turned out that rotating crop types on the plot of land increased the amount of years the land could be cultivated.
Crop rotation led to agricultural surplus, which stimulated trade. Traders contributed to the migration of seeds, because different oats would be needed during warmer and colder years. This was an important backbone for the expansion of the Orkanan Realm of Stoldavia. While it is stated that it was the Orkanans which invented the system, it was something they adopted and spread around the governed territories.
The original crop rotation led to land getting rest during the coldest phase of the Tirean cycle, being used as natural summer pasture. This added nutrients for the warmer period, when it was used for crop cultivation. During the Orkanan Realm (about 2500 years ago) an agricultural society arose on Stoldavia, spread out over the island in relatively small patches of land.
With the introduction of new crops, the system was refined into a schedule containg all 15 years of the cycle. The introduction of the potato meant that a new introducery crop could be entered into the shifting cultivation. It became the first crop to be used after plowing pastures into crop fields. In some areas of Stoldavia, it now became possible to have agricultural produce even through the cold phase, using grasslands as a resting year for the land.
Regional adaptations
A number of regions and countries have adapted the basic Stoldavic concept to their climate and soil conditions.
Hellreich rotation
Vittmark rotation
An adapted system is still in use today in large parts of Vittmark, especially in the coastal plains of Liden and Ådalen. Some local variations occurr, but in general, a crop rotation looks something like the example in the table below.
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7552 |
7553 |
7554 |
7555 |
7556 |
7557 |
7558 |
7559 |
7560 |
7561 |
7562 |
7563 |
7564 |
7565 |
7566 |
7567 |
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#1 |
potato |
oats |
roots |
beans |
potato |
oats |
pasture |
pasture |
pasture |
pasture |
grass |
potato |
oats |
roots |
beans |
potato |
|
#2 |
beans |
potato |
oats |
roots |
beans |
potato |
pasture |
pasture |
pasture |
pasture |
roots |
beans |
potato |
oats |
roots |
beans |
|
#3 |
roots |
beans |
potato |
oats |
roots |
grass |
pasture |
pasture |
pasture |
pasture |
oats |
roots |
beans |
potato |
oats |
roots |
|
#4 |
oats |
roots |
beans |
potato |
oats |
grass |
pasture |
pasture |
pasture |
pasture |
potato |
oats |
roots |
beans |
potato |
oats |
Roots are all crops where the roots are being harvested: turnips, carrots, parsnip, celeriac, beetroot, sugarbeet, etc., but not potatoes nor onions. In this group, recent additions from the cucurbitacae group (cucumber, squash, melon, pumpkin, etc) are included as well. Beans are often combined with leaf vegetables (endive, salad, spinach, kale) and onions and leek, sometimes also garlic. Corn is sometimes included in the oats group, but only during the warmest period of the cycle.
